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American cotton subsidies impoverish Africa Associated Press August 5, 2005 
The Wall Street Journal today featured an article on a contingent of American representatives who went to Mali to help local cotton farmers as a PR gesture. According to the article, "The U.S. spends more money on cotton subsidies than any other nation. The U.S. cotton industry last year collected $4.5 billion in subsidies on a crop worth $5.9 billion, according to the USDA. This system enables U.S. farmers to export three-quarters of their harvest and control about 40% of world trade. That's despite the decline of their traditional customer -- the U.S. textile industry -- and the fact that others produce cotton at lower cost" like farmers of Mali and other parts of the world. Effectively, U.S. cotton subsidies are further impoverishing a desperately poor region. Subsidies for other agricultural products, like sugar, have a similar impact. Oxfam, a nonprofit organization working to reduce poverty in the world's poorest regions, estimates that protectionism in rich countries costs the developing world over $100 billion a year. Source: "By a Thread - To Soothe Anger Over Subsidies, U.S. Cotton Tries Wooing Africa." SCOTT KILMAN and ROGER THUROW. THE WALL STREET JOURNAL August 5, 2005; Page A1. News index | RSS | Add to MyYahoo! |
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